Takes Like Coffee: Mo Farah to run London Marathon, Hayward Field renovations delayed

My apologies for a delayed edition of Takes Like Coffee. After running a personal best (!) at Sunday’s 5th Avenue Mile, I celebrated with a cheeseburger that came back to haunt me and I ended up with a small bout of food poisoning. I’m feeling better and finally mustered up the energy to get to my laptop for this quick post.

I’ll do a regular mailbag every week so send over questions to [email protected] or tweet at me @ChrisChavez. If there’s any story that you think should make the next edition of TLC, then shoot me message.

Shortly after the Great North Run, organizers announced that Farah will run his second career marathon at the London Marathon. He ran 2:08:21 in 2014. Honestly, it’s no surprise that he’s running London since it was rumored that he was going to get a six-figure payday to run there.

The 2019 Prefontaine Classic and NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships may be in jeopardy as Ken Goe reports that the latest renovations may not be complete until 2020. Hayward Field is looking to increase its capacity from 10,500 to 30,000 in time for the 2021 IAAF World Championships.

Over the weekend, Yoshihide Kiryu became the first Japanese runner to break 10 seconds for the 100 meter dash. This column takes a look into the similar idea that I gave thought to back in April, when I wrote something really short about how Japanese sprinters will be interesting to watch in the lead-up to the 2020 Olympics.

“Usain Bolt wants to play soccer stories” come out like every other day. I actually didn’t mind clicking on this headline from Bolt’s recent stop in Australia. Bolt vs. LeBron vs. Gladwell in the mile! That’s just as good as Mayweather vs. McGregor.

Jepkosgei became the first woman to break 30-minutes for 10K by winning the Birell Prague Grand Prix in 29:43, which smashed her own record of 30:04. She also set a world best for the 5K by crossing the halfway point in 14:32. It’s excitng to think what she could possibly run for the full marathon but when I talked to her coach back in April, he said the plan would be for “her to pace two to four marathons before going for marathon debut in several years.”

Chris Chavez

Citius Mag founder and writer for Sports Illustrated. Writing about people running on circles for five years. Covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio for SI. Previously at ESPN, Sporting News and Flotrack. Former high school sprinter turned four-time marathoner. Once went head-to-head with Joey Fatone in a half-marathon and won.